Baklava (p. 675)

I really like Baklava (p. 675) so I was happy to make the TJOC version. One of my main reasons I started this blog was to get over my fear of making dishes that greatly intimidate me--and baklava was top of the list.

The recipe was actually pretty simple. I buttered a dish, laid two pieces of phyllo out, buttered them, laid another two sheets, buttered, another two sheets, buttered, and done. TJOC recommends cutting the phyllo but they must be talking about phyllo sheets that are bigger than the ones I was working with--my phyllo sheets didn't need to be cut.



I sprinkled the phyllo with half of a sugar/lemon zest/cinnamon mixture that I had set aside and chopped toasted pecans. I think pistachios or almonds are a lot more traditional but I like pecans a lot more.




The whole operation was repeated another time and it was covered with a final six layers of phyllo dough. Honestly, buttering the phyllo was the most difficult part of the whole operation.

I cut the baklava into diamonds. It's supposed to be pre-cut so it doesn't get crushed but it still crushed slightly.



I made the sauce, which was a sugar, water, honey, and lemon juice mixture.



And poured it over the top. And into the oven it went!

When it came out, it was beautiful!



And delicious! It wasn't overwhelming with honey flavor but tasted pretty much like any baklava I've ever had. It was deliciously flaky. I would definitely make this again but not until I have more people around who like baklava--as the only person in this household who likes it, I got pretty sick of eating it after the first week.

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